ON AUTO RACING: KING TURNS TO OLD CAR TO TURN AROUND SEASON

When a new car left him running near the back of the field night after night, Shawn King turned to a proven winner.

Over the past two weeks, that decision has made all the difference.

King won Saturday's feature race for sprints at Auto Tire and Parts Racepark near Benton, Mo., a week after finishing second. Both finishes were drastic changes from the first five weeks of the season when King's best run was seventh.

The Cape Girardeau racer credits the change to a switch in race cars -- he began the season with a new and less familiar design by Eagle Chassis. When that one produced poor results after five weeks of racing, King dusted off last year's car -- a more familiar Eagle-built chassis -- and returned to the form that won him the track's season point title for sprints in 1997.

Both cars look nearly identical with similar black paint schemes with the familiar No. 9 and Plaza Tire Service sponsorship. But the minor differences in the framework, King said, made the cars handle differently on the track.

He said the new 2001 design has been proven by racers elsewhere, but it's slow to make its way to local tracks. King raced the only newly designed Eagle car at ATPR this season.

"Being a new design, I don't know if the problem was with us or the car or what," said King, 30. "Other racers have proven the new design works, but we just had a hard time with it and got tired of struggling. We gave it five nights and felt like that was long enough. I knew what we could do with the old car, so we went with that one."

The car King races now is one that he drove to three feature race wins last season at St. Francois County Raceway near Farmington, Mo. He'll race it the rest of the season at ATPR and St. Francois County Raceway.

"When you go from winning a few races one year and then the next year you're being lapped," King said, "people start asking questions. It got frustrating."

Strong finishes the past three weeks pushed King to third in the division point standings. Robbie Standridge leads the list with 376 points over Jeff Davis (320) and King (294).

King said the new car he raced early this season will be put up for sale.

Here and there

* The Pennzoil World of Outlaws series will compete Saturday at I-55 Raceway near Pevely, Mo., in a $10,000-to-win event. Racing begins at 7 p.m. Adult admission is $30, free for children 12 and under. The series last appeared at the track March 24, when 46 sprint teams and a capacity crowd endured temperatures in the 20s. Randy Hannagan won that event over Jason Meyers and Danny Lasoski.

* Milan (Tenn.) Speedway has scheduled a 30-lap late model event worth $2,500 to the winner Saturday, July 28. Racing begins at 7:30 p.m. Adult admission is $10 with children admitted free.

* Malden (Mo.) Speedway attracted more than 130 cars for its program Friday -- including 44 Mid-America Racing Series late models that competed for a $3,000 top prize. The late model turnout was impressive, considering I-55 and Paducah (Ky.) Raceway each attracted 30 or fewer late models for $5,000-to-win events a week earlier.

* Gene Kay of Perryville, Mo., endured a bruised shoulder to win the pro street feature race Friday at Fredericktown (Mo.) Raceway. Pete Koenig of Farmington won in pure streets over Ron Welker of Marble Hill, Mo. John Bohn of Farmington won in late models. The track will hold a regular program Friday with a special event planned Saturday for open-wheel modifieds.

* Chris Hall's open-wheel modified win at ATPR Saturday was his first in a feature race event since 1997. Congratulations on ending the dry spell, little brother.

Jamie Hall is the editor of graphics and design for the Southeast Missourian